Harsh hones in on win No. 6

Sauk Centre, Minn., pro catches 31-1 over two days

CASS LAKE, Minn. – Day two of the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour qualifier on Cass Lake was almost a complete 180 degrees from day one. Instead of showers and temperatures in the upper 40s, sunshine and warmth ruled the day. Leave it to veteran pro Pete Harsh to adjust and catch fish in both conditions. With a two-day total weight of 31 pounds, 1 ounce, Mr. Tiller has taken the overall lead at the halfway point of the tournament.

As is always the case with Harsh, he was tight-lipped about his location and presentation. He did say boat control was triggering the fish and that they moved considerably deeper with today’s blue-bird skies.

“It was brutal,” said Harsh, the four-time PWT champion and winner of the 2007 Walleye Tour event on Devils Lake. “Yesterday we were done at 1 p.m. and just taking it easy. Today we struggled. The first three fish I threw back, including one just over 20 inches, and I’m like, `If I want to win this thing, I can’t be keeping this.’ Well, two hours later, we’re still skunked.”

Harsh’s day eventually picked up at around noon when his 27-inch kicker bit.

“We were fortunate. We didn’t get that many bites, but we got that 27-incher, which was pretty stout, and we got a 19 ¾(-incher) and a couple of 18s. With about 10 minutes to go, I stuck about a 20 1/2. So we put it in the box and said `thank you Lord,’ and we were on our way in. We were only averaging about a bite an hour. Yesterday I think I hit three spots, and today I must have hit 15 spots.”

Harsh said he would prefer the weather the field endured on day one. He may get his wish, as 25-mph westerly winds and showers are once again in the forecast.

“I always say, `Let the wind be your friend.’ Those windy days are made for tiller boats.”

Although he’s not a true local, the Sauk Centre, Minn., pro has spent considerable time on Cass Lake.

“When I was a young man, which was quite a while ago, my parents would camp on Pike Bay. Really, I’ve only fished Cass Lake a few times in the past five years. But it’s a Minnesota lake. We go all over the country, and we always go and play at everybody else’s house. Now that we’re on Cass Lake, people have to play at my house.”

Per usual, Harsh isn’t looking for a top-10 finish or for points. He’s looking for win No. 6.

“When I let that first 20-incher go, Don (Cozzie, his co-angler) looked at me funny. I told him, `If you don’t try to win, you never will.'”

Kolb moves up to second

Prilosec pro David Kolb moved from sixth place to second place on the strength of a 15-pound, 4-ounce limit. His total weight now stands at 29 pounds, 5 ounces – 1 pound, 12 ounces behind Harsh.

Unlike Harsh, Kolb is exclusively looking for giant overs. Rather than trying to catch slot fish that are just under 20 inches, Kolb is looking for the biggest overs he can get. In the process, he’s willing to sacrifice a few pounds as he boxes 15- and 16-inch fish. On day two, he found exactly what he was looking for at 1 p.m. when a 28-inch Cass Lake walleye bit his redtail chub in 15 to 20 feet of water.

“We were very fortunate to get that one big bite,” he said. “We caught maybe a dozen fish, but only five were legals. I’ve been very fortunate to get my two overs both days – I mean very fortunate.”

Other than his 28-incher, a 22-inch walleye made up a good portion of his weight.

“Today it was redtails, yesterday it was spottails, and before that it was leeches. You just have to play around with it because it changes from day to day. The only problem is that it’s hard to experiment with only two rods.”

Like Harsh, Kolb welcomes tomorrow’s predicted inclement weather.

“I like it rough because I think I can control the boat pretty well. Tomorrow, I’ll start out fishing the same areas and the same techniques. The bite was really tough today because the water temperature dropped 3 degrees overnight.”

Adams up to third

Local angler Carl Adams Jr. had another successful day on Cass Lake, catching a five-fish limit that weighed 12 pounds, 8 ounces, pushing his total weight to 27-8. An area guide, Adams is more than comfortable in a rigging tournament.

“This type of fishing bodes well for us Minnesotans,” said the Blackduck, Minn., native. “We use this same style on pretty much all of our lakes. We get there, try and hold on the structure and put bait in front of their faces.”

More specifically, Adams said he is slowly dragging a Lindy Rig and that his Ranger boat and Yamaha tiller engine have helped him stay precisely on the spot.

“Our biggest fish have come on creek chubs, but we’ve been using leeches and night crawlers as well.”

Adams estimates he checked 15 spots today. His two biggest fish were a 21-incher and a 24-incher. With his two overs already in the box, he had to throw back a 22-incher later in the day.

“Our fish go pretty early in the morning, and we just basically go looking the rest of the day. Without much wind today, we actually went into the weeds for a little while. Then we’d go back, and when the wind would pick up in spurts, we’d get bites. The wind is supposed to pick up tomorrow, and that will be beneficial to me. I’m sitting where I want to be, but I know this lake can be pretty cruel to people.”

Renner falls to fourth

After leading yesterday, Hutchinson, Minn., pro Tony Renner fell to fourth. Catching a 10-pound, 5-ounce limit Thursday, Renner has a two-day total weight of 27 pounds, 3 ounces. Although he was disappointed with his catch, it could have been much worse. At 2 p.m., Renner had only one fish in the livewell.

“We had a real early morning bite going, and we didn’t really capitalize on it,” he said. “We got one 24-incher, and after that the fish really shut down until later in the day. Eventually, we went back to our No. 1 spot, and when we got there, we had eight bites from 2 to 3 p.m. and capitalized with four fish. The fish just weren’t as aggressive today. They are still there, but they moved out a little deeper, and we think we can get them tomorrow.”

Renner said he is focusing his efforts on the main lake and is using mainly creek chubs.

“The fish we lost was a lot like the one we caught yesterday – between 27 and 28 inches. It would have put us right where we needed to be. The program is working; you’ve just got to have a lot patience with these fish.”

Steil fifth

In fifth place was Scott Steil of Richmond, Minn., who brought in five walleyes on day two that weighed 11 pounds, 11 ounces and pushed his total weight to 27 pounds, 1 ounce. A teammate of Renner’s, Steil experienced nearly an identical day. Neither Renner nor Steil wanted sunshine, but they both scratched and clawed to remain in contention.

“We made some big-time adjustments today,” said Steil. “It was pretty obvious after I went to my first three spots and had one 14-incher that things had changed. It’s not the spots; it’s just how I’m fishing them.”

After adjusting, Steil experienced a midmorning flurry.

“At 10:30 we got a series of 18- to 19-inchers. We only got six total today; everything was biting short. We missed probably another seven or eight fish that we should have had. Maybe tomorrow we’ll get those in. If we get that nasty weather again, I think we can pull big weight. You get on a big school of fish and you can see them all over the graph, and you think, `Man, if we had some wind these fish would bite.'”

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 pros on day two at Cass Lake:

6th: James Gordon of Spicer, Minn., 26-5

7th: Dean Kaminski of Columbia Heights, Minn., 25-7

8th: Nick Johnson of Elmwood, Wis., 25-0

9th: Reggie Thiel of Walker, Minn., 24-14

10th: Chris Gilman of Chisago City, Minn., 24-12

Engelman takes co-angler lead

In the Co-angler Division, Rick Engelman of Hoople, N.D., took the lead with a two-day total of 27 pounds, 7 ounces. On day one Engelman was paired with pro Andy Renner of Spicer, Minn. The two caught five walleyes weighing 12 pounds, 13 ounces. On day two, Engelman fished with Gordon, the sixth-place pro. Today, Engelman and Gordon caught five walleyes weighing 14 pounds, 10 ounces.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers on day two at Cass Lake:

2nd: Ronald Carson of Omaha, Neb., two-day total of 25-12

3rd: Kevin Bruer of Robbinsdale, Minn., 25-9

4th: Cal Van Cleve of Wilmot, S.D., 24-3

5th: Mike Taylor of Midland, Mich., 23-10

Day three of FLW Walleye Tour competition on Cass Lake begins as the field of 124 boats takes off from Stony Point Resort at 7 a.m. Central time Friday for the final day of the opening round.